As part of a Mexican-American family with a strong tradition of military service, Tedosio Samora felt an obligation to volunteer for the Army. Enlisting in 1965, he expected to serve stateside in an administrative capacity--but instead was assigned to a military intelligence battalion working out of Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon. While he enjoyed the landscape and people of Vietnam, the omnipresent violence of life in a war zone--and the violent attitudes of his fellow servicemen--pushed him toward drug and alcohol addiction. Years later, he found solace in returning to Vietnam as a civilian.